Album Review: BLOOD INCANTATION Absolute Elsewhere

Blood Incantation comes from a long line of death metallers who sought to use extreme music as a springboard into all kinds of weirdness. The band’s music mirrors their fascination with dark science fiction, unafraid to bring alien textures and aesthetics to an already-heady brand of death metal. The prog element might have been inevitable (at least, more expected than the instrumental, drum-less ambient drone album they released two years ago), but that’s the tip of the iceberg this time around. Part vintage prog, part death metal nerdgasm, Absolute Elsewhere finds Blood Incantation in its most grandiose form, overflowing with musicality, ambiance, and force.

Considering the fact it’s named after a lesser-known prog collective, the structure and execution of Absolute Elsewhere feel natural. With this two-volume, six-chapter (tablet?) voyage into cosmological horror, Blood Incantation has plenty of room to explore new galaxies.

Although it comes sandwiched between syncopated riffs, harrowing leads, and wall-of-sound distortion, the first chapter of “The Stargate” actually spends equal time navigating a dynamic fusion jam. Complete with deliciously cheesy synths and jazzy percussion (in a cool way… not in the “metalheads heard Yellow Jackets once” way), it’s clear that Blood Incantation doesn’t want to view its non-death metal element as a crutch, or as a second fiddle. When the extreme metal hits, it still packs all the necessary brawn into its blast beats and dissonance. When they quiet down, you’d almost forget this dropped on Century Media.

Once again recalling Timewave Zero, “Tablet II” spends most of its time marinating in futuristic synths before tumbling tom-toms and flute melodies inexplicably bring to mind Yes or Genesis at their most strange. In this sense, the death metal element serves as a way to bring what’s essentially a five-minute crescendo to a satisfying climax.

This ability to use extremity for art rather than shock value essentially allows Blood Incantation to do to death metal what Opeth did with their death metal output. There’s no need to divide these “Tablets” into heavy and not heavy, as “Tablet III” still comes through with plenty of elegance in the chaos. Even when embellished by Middle-Eastern folk cadences or classic space-rock goodness, the metal element would be ear-catching enough on its own. The guitar leads become unhinged in their unpredictability, while the chord progressions strike a great balance between mood and aggression.

For an album that flows like two EP concepts, “The Stargate” has a distinct vibe to “The Message” while maintaining cohesion as a whole. The first “Tablet” of “The Message” has so many cool moments, from caveman riffing with a flanger effect to blast beating over shimmering clean guitar licks. It’s arguably the most ripping passage on the record, chocked full of blistering brutality. This is where the prog-metal vibe becomes more pronounced, as the band pushes themselves less in dynamics, and more in how many angles they can attack the listener in six minutes.

Ironically, the song also features a surprising amount of uplifting modulations and even a brief foray into melodic singing. This allows its savage technicality to mesh well once the next “Tablet” spends its runtime paying homage to King Crimson’s deep cuts with its inconspicuous, yet cinematic beauty. It’s easy to think of prog metal giants like Between The Buried And Me in moments like this if only for the evident finesse Blood Incantation maintains in these otherworldly journeys.

Where the likes of Between The Buried And Me never go straightforward death metal in order to keep everything as dazzling as possible, the final tablet gallops out the gate with unabashed nods to classic speed metal. Sure, odd-time signatures enter the fray eventually, as do flutes and harmonious singing, but Blood Incantation never fails to bring these transcendental detours into some devastatingly heavy death doom vibes and even Fleshgod-ish orchestral elements.

Even more astounding becomes the way these guys shift the mood without having to genre bend, the triumphant melo-death explosion at the midsection. The tremolo riffs and double kick are the euphoric contrast to the album’s more ominous auras. More importantly, it sticks with you. 

For all the solar system trotting at play here, this actually might be the easiest Blood Incantation album to listen to. The death metal is riffy, the prog is full of character, and the ambiance is deep… held together by uncommon catchiness. Blood Incantation took a chance and won, expanding their sound and creating their best effort yet.